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Sunday, May 31, 2015

On Sunday , the Egyptian government started to demolish the building of the former National Democratic Party in Cairo. The Egyptian armed forces’ engineering authority is supervising the process.

The end of that building after decades "Mosaab El-Shamy for AP"

Bulldozers began to bring that building which was another sign of authoritarian regimes in Egypt since late 1950s despite the demands of many Egyptians to leave the building as a landmark of the 25 January revolution. "Read more about its history at Cairo Observer"

A group from 25 January supporters started petitions in order to keep the NDP building as a reminder for any ruler in Egypt that the Egyptian people are capable to revolt against dictatorship.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Egyptian-American Mohamed Soltan has been released and deported to the U.S according to his family early Saturday. Soltan was sentenced to life in jail in the Rabaa control room last month.
Here is the statement from Hanaa Soltan.

It is unclear whether Soltan has given up his Egyptian nationality or not. According to the Egyptian law "which was amended by a presidential decree in 2014" foreign prisoners are deported to their country. Updated : It is confirmed , he had to give it up despite he did not want to but he accepted to give up his Egyptian nationality because of his family's pressure after the life sentence verdict.

Of course giving up his nationality to get his freedom is another crime committed and injustice frankly speaking. Very positive message indeed !!!

Hopefully insh Allah he will restore it back.

Arrested in August 2013 at his home while caring for his sick mother instead of his father prominent MB preacher Salah Soltan, Mohamed Soltan was in detention for almost 643 days.

He started full and partial hunger strike from time to time to demand for his release.

He had been on a hunger strike whether partial strike or full on for almost 489.

Historically I believe Soltan has the longest record when it comes to hunger strike in Egypt.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Shawkan and Mahmoud Mohamed , two Egyptian young men who have been detained for more than a year unjustly and unfairly. Only their families and friends are still fighting and reminding the world with their case without giving up hope.

Mahmoud and Shawkan

Mahmoud Abu Zaid aka Shawkan has been in detention since August 2013. He has been in detention for more than 640 days now. He is currently detained pending a trial in protesting and inciting violence-related charges when he was arrested while doing his job as a photojournalist.

Shawkan in court on 14 May 2015

Here was Shawkan standing in front of Judge Nagy Shehata “oh yes” on 14 May 2015 defending himself and saying that he was a photojournalist.

Unfortunately, Shehata renewed his detention for another 45 days !! Shawkan has been detained for more than 640 days for God Sake so far for just doing his job.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Do you remember the strike of the German University in Cairo “GUC” students’ strike in solidarity with their colleague Yara Tarek from a couple of months ago?
The strike and sit-in seemed to be successful and the students seemed to be winning the fight for their rights in safety at first.
The GUC administration reached agreement with the GUC Students Union after threats that the students would be reported to Prosecution following one-week sit-in and a strike.
According to that agreement, then all the students who boycotted the midterm exams would present petitions to have new examinations and no action would be taken by the GUC Administration to punish the protesting students.
Now months after the whole affairs the GUC administration decided to report against the president of the students union and other 10 students to the prosecution accusing him and his colleagues of assaulting the University Chairman and his guards as well his car during the sit-in.
The administration also rejected the petition to have new exams for a number of students which mean they may fail.
Three students were only officially summoned to New Cairo prosecution. The three students are president of the GUC 's student union Hazem Abdel Khalek, his vice-president Karim Nagib and a third student Alaa Al-Atar.
Now because we got the internet, there is a video showing that incident if I am mistaken. You can see clearly in the video that students did not touch the chairman’s car, in fact, Hazem Abdel Khalek appeared telling his colleagues not to touch. Earlier the students were angry because they heard the University’s chairman telling his driver to run over the students.

The incident captured on video.

Here is the photo of Alaa Al-Atar in shackles at the Prosecution after finishing her exams.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

On Saturday Former President Mohamed Morsi and 105 others were sentenced to death by the criminal court.

BY Khalil El-Baih

On Sunday Egyptian authorities executed 6 men convicted by a military court in the case known in the media as the “Arab Sharks cell” over a range of charges including the murder of army officers.

On Monday a Mansoura Criminal court sentenced one person to death over another terrorism-related charges in some case.

The debate about capital punishment had to be brought up and for the first time we see Islamists speaking about the suspension of Capital punishment in the country.

Abdel Moneim Abu El-Fotouh , the former presidential candidate and leader of Strong Egypt party called on Monday in an official statement for abolishing Capital punishment in Egypt in a short statement in English released by Strong Egypt. This is a huge thing for the former leading member in the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist politician to call for.

Needless to say I am realistic enough to know that this could a mistake in translation because in tweet sent on his official twitter account, Abu El-Fotouh demanded the suspension of capital punishment in Egypt due to the lacks of any guarantees to have justice and political as well social polarization.

There is a big difference between the suspension of the capital punishment and the abolishment of capital even linguistically.
Of course on Thursday the party issued another statement saying Abu El-Fotouh was demanding the cancellation of special courts in Egypt and the temporarily suspension of capital punishment. I think in late 2013 new special terrorism circuit inside the Criminal Court was set up allegedly to speed up justice.

Friday, May 22, 2015

when one speaks about El-Sayyida {The lady} in Egypt or rather in Cairo , he or she means one particular lady who is believed to be the Islamic Saint Patron of Cairo and that lady is Zeinab Bint Ali.
Despite there is a Mausoleum for El-Sayyida Zeinab in Syria and there are some historical records saying that she was buried in Damascus but according to other historical records she was buried in Cairo.
I do not need to say that how much El-Sayyida Zeinab is popular among Egyptians but it is enough that thousands of Egyptians from all over the country leaving their work to attend the celebrations of her birthday “Moulid”. It is major attractions of Sunni Sufi movements and Shia Muslims alike as well thousands of normal Egyptians seeking an aid or miracle from God through the help of Lady Zeinab.

El-Sayyia Zeinab Mosque Moulid By Tinne Van Loon

This year I chose a collection of photos from photographers in Egypt : My favorite photographer and friend Mosaab El-Shami “who you should check his work in AP” , Hossam Mosallam , Tarek Wajeh , Momen Samir and Belgian American documentary photographer Tinne Van Loon who you should follow her work.
Van Loon took amazing photos from the Moulid, truly amazing.
Now The Moulid of El-Sayyida Zeinab takes for a week at least with the festival mods all over the place surrounding her Mosque in Cairo. The Moulid was held earlier this month.
You would find street vendors selling all sort of food, circus performers doing dangerous acts, singers singing Sufi chants in tents and poems and traditional swings and carousel.
You find all this in the photo gallery below, I hope you enjoy it.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

I do not know how they think at the presidency, but they surely do not think straight. Earlier today it was announced that Judge Ahmed El-Zend, the head of Judges’ Club as the new minister of justice replacing Mahfouz Saber who resigned after his classist statements. The irony is that Ahmed El-Zend is classist and controversial more than Saber.

Sisi and Zend "Egyptian presidency"

Many people are shocked that El-Zend was chosen for this position but actually I believe appointing him means that the government exposes its true anti-Jan25 agenda knowing El-Zend political views and statements. Already we should not forget that El-Zend represented the opposite current supported by Mubarak’s regime in the Judges Club against the Reformists judges in the first place.
Now this post celebrates El-Zend’s most controversial statements in the past couple of years :

The United States is a “dirty” country and Egypt should stop the visit of foreign delegations

After ousting Morsi in July 2013 , there were many visits to Egypt by foreign delegations from African Union and European Union. This did not make El-Zend happy and so he called SCAF then to stop those foreign delegations from entering the country. He also called the United States as a "dirty" country in an interview on CBC TV channel. I can find the video but the websites covered his statements.

The Holy March of Judges’ children in Judiciary “September 2013”

In a meeting at the Judges club in Monufia , El-Zend criticized those who spoke about nepotism in judiciary describing them as envious. He also added that nobody would stop that holy March of Judges’ children.

First of all here is Reem Magued’s Feminine Plural’s third episode for those who did not see it.
Reem Magued interviewed Dahab or Manal who owns a small kiosk for traditional Egyptian food in Downtown Cairo. Dahab , a University graduate from a working class background defied the odds after failing to find a job and decided to open a small kiosk for traditional food in a Downtown Cairo passage alone to become one of the popular food attractions in that busy part of the capital.

Feminine Plural: Dahab, the traditional food seller

Unfortunately, it is in Arabic. I wish DW translates it to English or German so the world sees those examples of fantastic and strong Egyptian ladies.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Today an Egyptian Criminal court made another history as it sentenced for the first time an Egyptian president to death.
Oh yes and this is what I am going to speak about , about short notes and facts in the Morsi’s prison escape and espionage trials on Saturday where he was sentenced to death.

Mohamed Morsi is the first Egyptian president sentenced preliminary to death in modern

By Khalil Al-Baih

Egypt.

Mohamed Morsi is the first Elected Egyptian president sentenced preliminary to death.

This is a preliminary death sentence as the Judges in court asks the grand Mufti of Egypt to revise the case according to the law to see if the defendants should be executed according to Islamic Sharia.

The grand Mufti’s decision is not binding to the judges

If the grand Mufti agrees with the judges that those defendants should be executed then the court will uphold the verdict finally.

Because this is case involves a death sentence, there will be an appeal and a retrial which is expected in our case here like other cases involved death sentences and Muslim Brotherhood leading figures.

The case involves Mohamed Morsi and 105 other defendants including defendants who stood a trial in an absentia.

The case involves members of Hezbollah Lebanese militant group and political party as well members of Hamas Palestinian militant group.

The Prosecution in the case believes that Lebanese Shia Hezbollah is part of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood !!!

The Convicted defendants facing death sentence in Cairo include two deceased Palestinians and another imprisoned Palestinian !!

The Palestinians who are facing death sentences in Morsi’s jailbreak case are : Hossam El-Sanae “ A member of the Islamic Jihad who was killed in an Israeli attack in 2008” , Tayseer Abu Snema “ A member of Hamas who was killed in an Israeli attack in 2011” and Hassan Salama“ Currently serving endless life sentences in Israel since 1996”

Political sciences professor Emad Shahin , who is sentenced to death in “espionage” case is not a Muslim Brotherhood member contrary to what is claimed in the media. Here is Shahin’s statement on his official website. Here is the statement from FB account as I see now his website is down.

Of course the question remains here: If Morsi was in the eyes of the state and security authorities as well the army a fugitive, why they let him run for presidency and win the elections ??? If Morsi and his brothers were in the eyes of that deep security state a fugitive, why then SCAF cooperated with them !? Please respect my mind as an adult who uses her brain and stop saying that the legendary Egyptian deep state wanted to expose the Muslim Brotherhood and other traitors in front of the public because this contradicts logic.
In the end I will quote Dr. Khaled Fahmy’s words about his colleague Dr.Emad Shahin because it is not only about his colleague but more about Egypt and how I honestly feel right now.

“As a student of modern Egyptian history, I can hardly think of a darker day in Egypt’s recent past. Sadly, with all signs showing the regime determined to stay the course, more ominous days lie ahead.”

I can not say anything more. I am so tired. I will speak later about Morsi’s jailbreak case.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

TV host Reem Magued’s new TV show discussing social and feminist issues has been suspended by orders of authorities in Egypt after only two episodes on ONTV.
It started Friday afternoon when news hit the internet that ONTV will suspend the broadcast of the show. The news was confirmed by tweets from ONTV TV host Lilane Dauod.

“Authorities” order the suspension of Reem Magued’s show “Feminine plural”. We would like some “sane” explain to us what is happening and where that would lead us in Egypt.

One of my friends is from Reem’s producers and he confirmed the news to me. At the same time channel Albert Shafik refused to comment during then.

almost all news websites in Egypt confirmed the news unofficially. The head of the TV

Pro-25 January revolution renowned TV host Reem Magued returned back to Television after a long absence. Since July 2013, Reem Magued took a bold decision to suspend her Night news Talk show on ONTV. Reem Magued supports freedoms and 25 January revolution. It is known to everybody. She used to participate in protests against military trials for civilians.

Early May Reem Magued returned back to TV with a new brand TV show discussing feminist issues and highlighting amazing and bright examples of Egyptian women. The TV show is produced by German DW-Arabic service in cooperation with ONTV. The TV show is aired on DW-Arabic and then is re-aired on ONTV.

So far Reem Magued presented two amazing episodes from that show.

Her guest in the first episode was Shahira Mehrez , the famous Egyptian folklorist and researcher. Mehrez spoke about her life and the history of women’s traditional clothes. There was no direct talk about politics except when Shahira Mehrez said in the end of the episode that the 25 January revolution day was the best day in her long life. I can not forget how Mehrez looked when she said that last word.

The guest in the second episode with Al-Masry Al-Youm talented photographer Eman Helal who recorded Egypt’s toughest moments on her camera in the past 4 years. Eman Helal spoke about women photojournalists as well her experience as photojournalist during the 25 January revolution.
Helal also described the toughest moments she witnessed in the dispersal of Pro-Morsi Rabaa sit-in.

Some say that this was the real reason why the show was suspended on ONTV. Nobody should speak about Rabaa massacre on Egyptian TV channels.
I am going to post both episodes below.

Friday, May 15, 2015

This painting was made by a group of Egypt’s finest graffiti artists at El-Boston street in Downtown Cairo last week. The artists who painted since early morning were arrested by the security forces and detained for 12 hours till they were released.
They were interrogated by Homeland officers during their detention.
The 4 graffiti artists included famous painters Mohamed El-Moshir and Ammar Abo Bakr
By the way till this day the Public prosecutor is ignoring the decision of the Cabinet to release the Walls of Freedom book about the 25 January revolution graffiti in Egypt. Walls of Freedom book was seized in Alexandria last February because it ignites revolution !!

I went there from two weeks ago then I went yesterday and it was really good despite the extremely hot weather. It is not Spring flowers show but rather Summer Flowers show !! Of course, I went in a very annoying time at 2 PM where the Sun was horizontal on my head so I should not complain.
I did not go around like in 2007 but the Spring Flowers show is always fun.

Click on the left arrow to see more than 90 photos from the Flowers show this year :)

Not less than 100 Egyptian flowers nurseries, plantations and landscaping companies.

Now a little historical background about this beautiful show: It is the oldest surviving show or exhibit in the history of modern Egypt as I realized. This year the minister of Agriculture and Giza governor inaugurated the 83th Flowers Show which means officially it was inaugurated in 1932.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Last Tuesday Egypt’s minister of justice Mahfouz Saber had to resign due to a classist statement he said on a TV interview in an unprecedented incident. He resigned after a huge campaign in the social media network for few hours. The whole affair needs a detailed post.
It started on Sunday when Minister of justice then Mahfouz Saber said in a TV interview on Ten TV channel that the garbage collectors’ sons cannot be judges because judiciary demands a special class that is not too poor or too rich answering a question by TV host Ramy Radwan.

Former Minister of Justice Mahfouz Saber: Garbage collectors’ sons can not be judges

Radwan asked specifically about the garbage collectors’ sons and the minister answered frankly exposing ugly classism.
On Monday former blogger and current TV producer, Mohamed Maree launched #Fire_the_Minister_of_Justice and it became a top trending within hours. In the past 48 hours, this hashtag recorded 15,686 tweets mostly from Egypt.
Monday evening it was officially announced that Saber resigned from his position as minister of justice.
This is the whole affair in a nutshell.
Now what yo need to know that Mahfouz Saber does not represent himself only but he rather represents a whole trend in the Egyptian judiciary which believes that certain classes should join their exclusive club.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

This is a belated post, but it is for the sake of history, it has to be recorded.

The Famous Maspero building

Last Saturday afternoon millions of Egyptians found out that the Egyptian State TV and Radio stations broadcasted from Cairo’s Egyptian Radio and TV Union building aka Maspero went off the air for several minutes.
Yes on Saturday 10 May 2015 a power cut hit Maspero building because a malfunction in the main lighting system in Maspero building.
It was unprecedented. I do not recall that happened before since the inauguration of the Maspero in the 1960s.Needless to say and sadly enough no one felt sad about it !!
It is worth to say that Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab apologized to the Egyptian people for what happened. There is an investigation reportedly going in Maspero to stand on the reasons behind that malfunction.
I do not need to speculate that the results of this investigation will be that the malfunction happened because the lighting systems were too old and needed to be upgraded. They were not upgraded because of corruption and so on.
What happened on Saturday should have a discussion about the future of Maspero or the Egyptian Radio and TV stations and its future in the Egypt especially with that fierce competition against the private owned TV channels. This is not happening and won’t happen anytime soon.
The Egyptian Radio and TV union can be Egypt’s BBC, but I think if it continues in this way or rather if Egypt continues on the path of that old 1952 state the ERTU will end like TeleLiban
Anyhow, this post was only about that the power went off in Maspero last Saturday.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Egyptian authorities issued a decision late Thursday night to confiscate the funds of Egyptian famous retired footballer Mohamed Abu Terika because he is allegedly Muslim Brotherhood member.

Al Watan newspaper says that it got exclusive documents showing that the Committee assigned by the government to confiscate the Muslim Brotherhood’s funds and assets has confiscated the funds of the popular footballer because of his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

We bring the money so it would be in our hands and not in our hearts.They can confiscate the money or anything else but I will not leave this country and I work on improving it.

Abou Trika fired back eloquently.
Now that was the news broke the internet for real in Egypt with thousands of tweets as well several hashtags like “#iSupportAbouTrika”, “#AbouTrika_is_not_a_criminal” and “#AbouTrika_is_red_line” in Arabic. Classy as they are always, Pro-Sisi supporters launched a counter hashtag describing Abou Trika as MB sheep.
I will not link because it is full of fascism and hate

Monday, May 4, 2015

Today I passed by the Yemeni embassy in Dokki area , Giza where I found a large group of Yemeni men and women outside it demanding to return back to their homes Those Yemeni men include students and patients who came to Egypt and found themselves stuck in Egypt as war broke out.

Now they cannot return to their home because the Yemeni airspace has been shut down by Saudi forces. They are also facing economic woes as the Yemeni banks do not transfer money across the borders.

Gamal Mubarak with his daughter Farida and wife Khadija"Source: Youm7"

It is very provoking actually because you remember at the same time thousands of Egyptian young protesters and activists who revolted again him and his father are currently in jail like Alaa Seif, Ahmed Douma, Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Maher as well Sanaa Seif and a long list of young men and girls.
Anyhow there is sudden insistence from the Mubarak boys whether Alaa or Gamal to resurface in Egypt’s social scene once again since their release pending their trials. They appeared first in early April while attending the memorial service of famous Pro-Military journalist Mustafa Bakery’s mother at none other than Omar Makram mosque in the heart of Tahrir square in some sad irony.

Okahsa, who is going to shut down his channel next Saturday due to financial problems, predicted earlier that El-Sisi was going to be toppled next Tuesday !!!!!
I do not need to recount how this man was too close to SCAF.
Pro-regime TV host Rania Badawy asked El-Sisi on air from couple of days on Saudi-owned Youm Channel about the fate of the mega-projects he promised during his presidential campaign as well the projects announced in the Sharm El-Sheikh economic conference. The video of her rant was available Online, but it was removed from YouTube from a couple of hours ago.